go this time?”
“The Eastern Shore.”
“Maryland again?” His mother clucked. “I hope his girls are old enough to cross state lines. Your father will end up in jail.”
Julian laughed, pretty sure she was kidding. If anyone was going to end up in jail, it would be him. He’d started by looking into the houses from the window of his hotel, but then he realized that he could leave the hotel without his father knowing, since Mr. Oh Baby was asleep next door. If Julian ever got caught at night, he’d tell his father he was looking for owls.
“Do you ever sleep on the boat? It sleeps six. Supposedly.”
“No, and the town we stayed in was nice.” Julian was thrilled they didn’t sleep on the boat. He walked around the towns at night, looking inside the houses. If he got close enough, he could peek through the windows. Julian Browne, junior voyeur.
“Which town?”
“Chestertown. I saw a lot of mallards, but nothing special. The Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge is down there, but we didn’t go. They have ospreys and eaglets learning to fly this time of year.” Julian had done his research. “Dad said we can go next time. It’s best in fall or spring for migratory birds.”
“Like your father would ever go birding. So what’s her name, really?”
“I don’t know. I tell you, it doesn’t matter. They’re all the same, Mom.”
“And how is that?” His mother held her water glass to her lips.
“You know, they’re just women, younger women.” Julian rose, picking up his plate. “May I be excused?”
“How much younger?”
“I don’t know.” Julian realized he was making it worse. “He introduces me, that’s it.”
“Where does he meet them? Where did he meet this new one?” His mother arched an eyebrow. “Is she from the same strip club as the last one? Amber or whatever her name was?”
“I don’t know.” Julian didn’t add that they all looked like they were from a strip club. And they danced like that, too. Oh baby.
“Do they ever hit on you?”
“Of course not!” Julian burst into laughter. It hadn’t happened, but he’d thought about it more than once.
“I want you to tell me if that happens.”
“Mom, they never pay attention to me. They pay attention to Dad.” Julian didn’t add that the only girl he cared about was Sasha. She was his secret obsession. She was the one who started him being a voyeur. If there was one bird he wanted, it was Sasha Barrow.
“I bet they’re all over him.” His mother snorted. “Hot young girls on a boat, that’s his fantasy. It’s so juvenile!”
Julian flashed on his AIM convo with Sasha. He would do anything for her, and if she wanted bullets for the gun, he would figure out a way to get them. Now the two of them had a secret, from the others. Him and Sasha, together.
“Does he pay any attention to you on these trips?”
“I don’t need him to.”
“But you’re with him every other weekend. It must be lonely.”
“I’m fine.” Julian had been standing with his dirty plate forever. “Now can I be excused?”
“Yes, but listen to me.” His mother touched his arm, her charm bracelet jingling with the gold number-charms that his father had given her on their anniversaries. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. The judge said the custody schedule is optional at your age. It’s a guideline, not the law.”
“If I don’t want to go, I won’t.” Julian used to look forward to his father’s weekends, before he’d found the gun. If things started to heat up with Sasha, he’d stay home on his father’s weekends.
“When school starts, you can’t go boating on weekends. You’ll have homework.”
“I know.”
“I just hate that this is your life now, back and forth all the time.” His mother’s pretty face fell, and three wrinkles popped on her forehead. Lately she’d been talking about Botox.
“Mom, I’m fine.” Julian knew what she needed to hear. “And take it from me, none of those girls are as pretty as you—”
“Is.”
“What?”
“Your verb agreement. ‘None of those girls is.’ Not ‘are.’ You’ll never go wrong if you pretend ‘none’ is ‘no one.’ Think to yourself, ‘no one is.’ ”
“Okay, no one is as pretty as you, or as cool as you, or as smart as you, and they can’t do anything as well as you. Dad’s crazy, and you’re perfect.”
“Really?” His mother swallowed hard.
“Perfect.” Julian gave her a kiss on the cheek, and when he straightened up, his mother was smiling again.
CHAPTER 11
Kyle